Award Winners

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Fiction fans breathed a sigh of relief when Stanford professor Adam Johnson received the award for his novel The Orphan Master's Son. If you remember,last year’s Pulitzers created quite a controversy when no fiction winner was chosen despite three excellent contenders (Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia!by Karen Russell and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace).

Here are the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning books, with descriptions from the Pulitzer juries:

FICTION

WinnerThe Orphan Master's Sonby Adam Johnson“An exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart.”

FinalistWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frankby Nathan Englander“A diverse yet consistently masterful collection of stories that explore Jewish identity and questions of modern life in ways that can both delight and unsettle the reader.”

FinalistThe Snow Childby Eowyn Ivey “An enchanting novel about an older homesteading couple who long for a child amid the hard wilderness of Alaska and a feral girl who emerges from the woods to bring them hope.”

FinalistLincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American Historyby John Fabian Witt “A striking work examining how orders issued by President Lincoln to govern conduct on battlefields and in prisons during the Civil War have shaped modern laws of armed conflict.”

WinnerStag's Leapby Sharon Olds “A book of unflinching poems on the author’s divorce that examine love, sorrow and the limits of self-knowledge. “

FinalistCollected Poemsby Jack Gilbert “A half century of poems reflecting a creative author’s commitment to living fully and honestly and to producing straightforward work that illuminates everyday experience with startling clarity.”

FinalistThe Abundance of Nothingby Bruce Weigl “A powerful collection of poems that explore the trauma of the Vietnam War and the feelings that have never left many of those who fought in the conflict.”